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Scrappy Lawyer Finds Himself At The Other Table

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By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN The Associated Press

Published: December 1, 2007

NEW ORLEANS - Richard "Dickie" Scruggs has carefully crafted an image as an aw-shucks country lawyer who champions the little guy in David-and-Goliath legal battles.

But in truth, Scruggs is himself a giant - a legend of the Mississippi bar, a supremely well-connected political insider, and one of the richest men in one of the poorest states in the Union, having made hundreds of millions of dollars from taking on Big Tobacco and asbestos and insurance companies.

Now he faces the fight of his life over a relatively modest $50,000 - the amount prosecutors say he offered to a Mississippi judge as a bribe.

If convicted, the 61-year-old Scruggs could get 75 years in prison.

The indictment this week is a stunning turn in a colorful career that has more plot twists than a John Grisham novel - a fitting comparison, given Scruggs was said to be a source of inspiration for the author's "The King of Torts."

Through an attorney, Scruggs denied the bribery allegations. Scruggs, considered a master in the court of public opinion, declined to be interviewed. But it is not his style to keep quiet for long.

Doesn't Mince Words

Scruggs is partial to seersucker suits and prone to punctuating arguments in court and outside with a wide grin, a Southern-fried quip, or a sports metaphor, preferably football or baseball. But behind his country-boy facade is a sophisticated legal mind, and a formidable adversary for corporate America.

Scruggs helped negotiate the multibillion-dollar tobacco settlement in the 1990s, working with whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand, a former tobacco company scientist. Hollywood came calling, and actor Colm Feore played Scruggs in the 1999 movie about the case, "The Insider," starring Al Pacino and Russell Crowe.

After Hurricane Katrina, a major new line of work opened up for Scruggs. The Pascagoula, Miss., native sued insurance companies on behalf of hundreds of homeowners whose claims were denied after the 2005 storm. Scruggs' brother-in-law, Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., was one of his clients.

His manner is down-to-earth - and sometimes just earthy. In a Time magazine interview in 2000, he said: "We were so poor that if I hadn't been a boy, I wouldn't have had anything to play with."

After winning far less in damages than he requested in the first of his Katrina cases to go to trial, he said: "It's always great to get a win in the first game of the season, whether it's by one point or 30 points."

Matthew Steffey, Mississippi College law professor, said Scruggs seems to have a genuine interest in the "little guy" and likes to take risky cases other lawyers can't afford.

"He has lived a big and public life, and that makes this - if the allegations are true - a tragedy in the Shakespearean sense," Steffey said.

Dispute Over Fees

The case that threatens to derail Scruggs' career is rooted in a dispute with other lawyers over $26.5 million in fees from a settlement of Katrina lawsuits against State Farm Insurance.

Federal prosecutors said an attorney acting for Scruggs approached the judge in the case and offered a bribe for a favorable ruling. The judge informed federal authorities, who apparently recorded several conversations between the judge and the alleged middleman.

On Wednesday, a grand jury in Oxford, Miss., indicted Scruggs along with three other lawyers, including his son, who is his law partner. Scruggs pleaded not guilty and was released on $100,000 bail.

It wasn't Scruggs' first link to a judicial bribery case. He testified this year in the federal trial of Gulf Coast lawyer Paul Minor. Minor was convicted of guaranteeing loans to judges to influence cases.

Prosecutors said Minor persuaded Scruggs to make one of those loans. Minor said he later reimbursed Scruggs the $24,500. Scruggs, who was a government witness and wasn't charged, said he and Minor did nothing wrong.

Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., questioned why Scruggs wasn't charged. He said the case smacked of "political selective prosecution," given Scruggs' relationship with Lott and his history as a generous political donor.

A former Navy fighter pilot, Scruggs lives in Oxford, and flies to and from legal engagements around the South in his personal jet. His vast wealth is fodder for his critics, but Scruggs is unapologetic. He says the money lets him match corporate opponents in ways few other lawyers could afford.

Scruggs has also made plenty of enemies. One is Mississippi Insurance Commissioner George Dale, who recently lost a re-election bid after 32 years in office.

Scruggs accused Dale of being too cozy with insurers after Katrina and took out a newspaper ad depicting Dale as a pig covered with pink lipstick by State Farm executives. The caption: "Lipstick on a Pig."

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